A Numerical Study on the Axial Crush Characteristics of Thin Walled Rectangular Tubes Subjected to Dynamic Impact

Thin walled tubular structures are commonly used as the cheap, versatile and efficient energy absorbers in automobiles, trains and energy absorbing barriers. The present work focuses on the numerical study of axial crush characteristics of rectangular tubes under dynamic loading condition, using Finite element analysis (FEA) and Design of experiments (DOE). A parametric study is carried out to investigate the relative influence of geometry parameters namely thickness, corner radius of tube and yield strength of material on the crush characteristics. Empirical models were developed which significantly describe the relationship between output responses and the design parameters. Effect of section size of tube and taper angle on crush characteristics was studied. Moreover effect of different crush triggers on the crush behavior was also investigated.